One of my favorite things outside of writing, is color. The varying world of color. Of mixing and matching, of contrast and light. My hobbies involve color in big ways. I knit with yarn that’s sometimes bright and vibrant and sometimes subtle and soft in tone. I also love scrapbook papers with patterns of varying colors on them and cotton quilt fabrics that mix and match.

One of the best ways to delve into the character while writing or reading is to experience some if not all of the five senses. Taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. As a reader or writer, do you notice color when you read or write? Color can give the indication of all sorts of moods to the story.

Imagine a house, dark, brown, gray, black (color) with rough planks of wood (Touch).

Now imagine a house, light, white, pink, orange, yellow, smooth with shiny slick sides.

Two very different houses and the color effects the mood you have when reading about it.

Dark=mellow, sorrowful, maybe scary

Bright=energetic, cheerful, happy

When reading your next book take a notice at the colors used to describe everything. What do you notice? How does it affect your mood when reading the scenes?

What is your favorite use of color?

Ansha Kotyk loves the color of the cover of GANGSTERLAND, it’s a muted red with dark shadows of villains in the background, lurking.  Which leads into book #2, Apocalypse Junction, where getting sucked into a book has its drawbacks: a missing sister you need to rescue, a lost gold mine to find, AND a way out.  Available later this year. Check out www.anshakotyk.com for more.